The present invention concerns electrical connectors and pertains particularly to test fixture compliant connector mounting bracketry.
In a manufacturing environment of electronic equipment, such as computer equipment, networking equipment or other electronic equipment, it is often desirable to facilitate the connection and disconnection of numerous cables to the device under test.
To facilitate efficient connection and disconnection of cabling, connectors for cabling from the testing equipment can be anchored using connector mounting bracketry. However, if there is no "give" in the connector mounting bracketry, problems can arise when there is a slight misalignment between the mounted connectors and the connectors from the device under test. This can become especially critical when on the device under test, several connectors are located close together.
Various types of brackets have been used to attempt to facilitate connection. For example, in an effort to overcome gravity, one solution is to hold the mating connectors in a bracket which is suspended at the end of long rods (i.e. cantilever beams). This solution does hold the connector in a "nominal aligned position"; however, this solution is too large to use in many instances, costly to fabricate, and difficult to assemble and use.
Another alternative is to hold the mating connectors in a bracket which is suspended by commercially available rubber "shock mounts" (blocks of rubber with metal studs attached to both ends) which hold the connector in the "nominal aligned position". However, this solution is too large to use in most instances, not generally available in "soft or compliant" enough materials so that there is not unacceptable stress on components, and is not easily scaled to use with small connectors.
Another alternative is to mount the connectors in a bracket which utilizes slots and spacers on the mounting screws, thus providing a degree of movement between the connector bracket and the mounting bracket. However, this solution is generally larger than minimal, does not hold the connector in the "nominal aligned position" because gravity causes it to rest "on the bottom", has more pieces than minimal, and requires precise machining.
Another alternative is to mount the connectors in a bracket which is attached to the mounting bracket by use of screws with special sleeves which have "O" rings around them. The "O" rings mate with precise and complex shaped holes in the mounting bracket. These "O" rings do hold the connector in the "nominal aligned position"; however, this solution is generally larger than minimal, has more pieces than minimal, requires precise machining, and does not generally provide sufficient compliance (allowance for movement to accommodate miss-location of connectors being mated).